Protocol for handling transmission errors over asynchronous communication lines

摘要

A system or scheme for automatic detection of and recovery from transmission errors in the asynchronous communication mode at the data link level with complete transparency at the higher levels is disclosed wherein the transmissions are in the form of a sequence of data packets, and an improved combination of end-of-text (ETX) bytes along with checksums is used in each data packet to detect errors. The ETX character is dynamically selected for each packet after the data comprising the packet has been assembled. This character is coded differently from the remaining character codes in its respective packet and is made the second byte thereof following the start-of-text byte (STX). The third byte in each packet is made the complement of the preceding ETX byte, the latter of which is also made the last byte in the packet. Thus, the second and last bytes in each packet are identical, and different from all the other bytes, and the third byte is their complement. Other bytes in each packet include: one byte indicating the location of the packet in a set in a given transmission sequence; a byte distinguishing the packet's set from other transmission sequences; two bytes indicative of the number of data bytes in the packet; one byte operating as a control character indicating the functional nature of the packet; data bytes; and, two checksum bytes which precede the last ETX byte. Among the advantages of transmissions using packets containing the foregoing improved combination of bytes, is the fact that all transmission errors will be detected and upon detection of an error in a packet, the transmitter is immediately notified and retransmission is carried out only from the erroneous packet rather than from the beginning of the entire sequence as in the prior art.